The talk heading into Sunday night’s NBA All-Star Game was all about finding ways to increase the competitiveness of the game. Coming off the heels of the league’s lowest rated All-Star Game on record in 2023 (a 2.2 rating and 4.59 million viewers) NBA Commissioner Adam Silver met the derision of the widely panned game with several proactive changes after discussions with the players. Gone were the player-draft with long introductions and a long halftime show, scrapped in favor of a return to the East-West game with a focus on a “return to basketball” as Silver put it.
Did it work? From the players’ perspective, absolutely. The players felt that their concerns had been heard and that it resulted in a better game environment.
“Yeah, I liked it better this year honestly,” Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum said. “It was a regular game. Halftime was a little shorter, and the introductions was a lot shorter. So, it felt like a little bit more normal of a game than past years.”
The East-West format helped with familiarity and the game had plenty of individual moments that sparked life into the crowd. Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton started the game going a perfect 5 for 5 from 3-point range in just 92 seconds before finally missing, drawing an ever-increasing emphatic roar from the hometown crowd each time. Milwaukee Bucks guard Damian Lillard had not one, but two, makes from half-court while Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young was able to put the ball between Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant’s legs on his way to a layup.
“I thought it was a good game… Any time the crowd is engaged and you’re hearing ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ and things like that because, if the crowd isn’t enjoying what they’re seeing, they’re not going to say nothing,” said Lillard, the NBA All-Star MVP.
But, did all this result in what everyone from Silver, to NBA legend Larry Bird, to the TV audience were hoping for — a more competitive game of actual basketball? Uniformly, no.
All sorts of offensive records were smashed in a blowout 211-186 win for the East on Sunday night. Most points ever, crossing the 200-point threshold for the first time. Most points from a losing team ever. 66 threes made and 168 attempted – both records. And while there were plenty of social media highlight moments, the frivolousness of previous editions was there to be seen in all its glory. Perhaps none more so than Dallas Mavericks forward Luka Doncic launching a ¾ court heave with more than 30 seconds left on the clock. The players had fun, but a competitive game this was not.
“Obviously, it wasn’t high intensity at all,” Haliburton said afterwards.
Even though Lillard thought it was a “good game,” he did speak to what many see far too often on the court during this contest. “It was probably too much leak-out, go get a dunk, go get a layup type of moments. If we could limit those, people wouldn’t feel the way they feel sometimes about it, if we could just try to limit it. It’s going to happen sometimes, but it probably can’t happen as much.”
So, in a year where the NBA concedes to many of the players’ requests and there is still general apathy towards the game, what is the solution?
No one is expecting NBA Finals-level intensity and the players, coaches, and fans alike are all worried about any potential injury with under 30 games to go in the season, but what exactly is the ideal environment? Golden State guard Stephen Curry alluded to this in his media day press conference — the intensity should be “somewhere in between.” But where exactly is “in between?”
Players recognize that this is an entertainment product. They want to show off their otherworldly talents without getting hurt. And maybe the audience on TV doesn’t mind the offensive output. After all, the preliminary TV audience of 5.5 million viewers represents a 20% increase over last year’s record low and is the largest of the NBA season. That is still the second-smallest All-Star Game on record however, and it definitely does not prevent another round of criticism towards the event.
Perhaps the criticism is because many tune in with the expectation that we are going to see the greatest pickup game in the world. However, without any tension to drive some level of intensity the game looks more like something one might find when watching the Harlem Globetrotters: a glorified shootaround with a high level of showmanship — a far cry from the 2020 All-Star Game that had 7.3 million tune in to see charges, blocks, coach challenges, and arguing with the officials in addition to the usual uncontested dunks and 3s.
Maybe the answer is putting a cash prize on the line, akin to the In-Season Tournament. Maybe it’s moving to a setup similar to the Rising Stars, smaller rosters but multiple teams with low target scores to keep game intensity alive. Or maybe the NBA is happy with the TV increase and this is the end goal. But right now, the All-Star Game suffers from the apathy players show for it. All good stories have tension to drive the plot forward, and the All-Star Game is no exception. The League — and the players — need to find a way to generate enough tension to keep viewers invested in this NBA story.
Silver noted in his pre-All-Star press conference Saturday that he often hears glowing reviews of All-Star Weekend — before the game takes place.
“Then, of course, if the game is lousy, the reports are it was a lousy All-Star because the game wasn’t that exciting,” he added. “And, frankly, fans are able to vote by what they watch too. They have so many options.”
